DC Studios has had a seismic shakeup at the very top of their leadership. James Gunn and Peter Safran, the duo who were co-CEOs of the company are stepping down. DC Studios was acquired by Skydance in the Warner Bros. merger and they’ve appointed former Marvel executive Jeremy Latcham to the post of president and CCO of DC Studios. The Hollywood Reporter corroborated the story.
Safran and Gunn are stepping down from their positions on December 1st, four years after taking the job. They released three movies during this time, Superman, Supergirl, and Clayface. They also have put out three DC TV shows in The Penguin, Peacemaker season 2, and Lanterns. When they signed on they had a decade’s worth of material they were planning with a similar plan to the phases that Marvel Studios uses.
They’ll still be on board creatively for some of their following projects like the sequel Man of Tomorrow and the TV spinoff The Poeple Vs. Gorilla Grodd. Here’s what Skydance CEO and Co-CEO Ynon Kreiz said about the duo.
“James and Peter launched a new era for DC Studios and led it through a period of real transformation, resetting the foundation and building a slate we’re incredibly proud of. We’re grateful for their passion, contributions and commitment to this legendary brand.”
They also had something to say about Jeremy Latcham, the incoming head of DC Studios.
“Jeremy has been a longtime creative partner to both, and we have complete confidence that James and Peter will ensure a smooth, collaborative transition and continue this work with care. We look forward to working with Jeremy to build the next generation of DC storytelling and to doubling down on our commitment to fans.”
Who Is Jeremy Latcham?
Latcham was an early employee at Marvel Studios, starting there in 2004. He rose up to the position of Senior VP of Production and Development and was Kevin Feige’s right hand man. Latcham worked on early MCU films like Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Spider-Man: Homecoming. He also worked with James Gunn on Guardians.
Latcham will lead DC’s film, TV, and animation slate, overseeing the creative pipeline. He will report to Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, co-chairs of Skydance Motion Picture Group. Gunn and Safran previously reported to WB CEO David Zaslav before the merger.
The Future Of DC Studios
Now the real question that people are going to ask is if James Gunn and Peter Safran stepped down or were pushed out because of the merger. We might never know because it felt like incoming head David Ellison gave them a vote of confidence when he visited the set of Man of Tomorrow. It also calls into question the slate of movies that they had previously announced and where plans for those are going.
If you’re looking at their tenure as a whole, there are some hits, and some huge misses. The TV side fared better than the film side with Superman getting rave reviews and a good box office total. Supergirl was a different story, though, with middling reviews, and it did not catch on with audiences. Clayface has been a hit with critics and audiences, though, so they’re not all misses.
The biggest thing was the fact that they only put out seven projects in the four years that they were on board. They had to get out of the gate running and instead stumbled with their biggest characters.
DC’s future is in new hands and that means creative changes. But this story was a shocking one throughout the entertainment industry.
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